MSI P35 Diamond review

It may be a Diamond, but it's certainly an odd one

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Our Verdict

Quirky and quite expensive, this is an odd motherboard from MSI

For

DDR3 support

X-Fi audio included

Against

Odd construction

Middle-of-the-road performance

Expensive

As a motherboard that actually supports DDR3, the P35 Diamond is something of an oddity anyway. But its elaborate cooler is the reason you'll be scratching your head as you get it out of the box, rather than the memory standard.

An additional fan can be added on top of this heatpipe for extra cooling as well. This does make things cramped, especially around the processor.

The inclusion of the SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio will be welcomed by audiophiles and gamers alike, and is a neat addition to an impressive feature list - including IEEE1394 and Gigabit Ethernet.

The bundled daughter card boasts the full gamut of audio connectors, and the sound quality really is a cut above the norm. The inclusion of a modem riser is an odd one in these days of ADSL, but is a nice inclusion in case of an emergency.

We weren't overly impressed with the out of the box performance of the P35 Diamond, and overclocking isn't as easy as some. This combined with the high price of DDR3 make the relatively high asking price tough to swallow.